2 teens caught separately vandalizing Colosseum, could face steep fine
Two teenagers were caught separately defacing Rome’s Colosseum in the past week, less than a month after a British tourist was detained for doing the same.
A 17-year-old Swiss girl was spotted Friday engraving the letter “N” into the nearly 2,000-year-old structure while on vacation in Rome, according to Italian news outlet ADNKronos.
A 17-year-old German student also was caught Sunday scratching a wall on the Colosseum’s ground floor, causing a brick fragment to break off.
Both teens face a fine of up to 15,000 euro ($16,853) for destroying the historic property.
British national Ivan Dimitrov, 27, faces the same fine and a potential jail term of two to five years for carving into the structure last month.
The Bristol-based fitness trainer went viral for etching “Ivan + Hayley,” his girlfriend’s name, into the Colosseum’s walls.
